Right to Equality in Islam
As far as economic equality is concerned, Islam instituted the system of Zakat or poor-tax to ensure that no individual falls below a certain minimum of material well-being. The income from this tax was distributed locally to the poor and the needy section of every region or province and if some surplus was left after satisfying the needs of the common people, it was remitted to the central government. The Prophet (peace be upon him) defined Zakat in the following words:
"God has laid down on them a Sadaqah (tax which is taken from the rich and returned to the poor".
Here the phrase "returned to the poor" is very significant. It indicates that the wealth taken from the rich belongs, in fact, to the poor.
Islam found its programmed on a spiritual basis and invited the whole of mankind the the transcend the lower level of minimal life to be able to go beyond the mere ties fostered by the kinship of blood, racial superiority, linguistic arrogance and economic privilege. It invited mankind to move on to a plan of existence where, by reason of his inner excellence, man can realize the idea of the Brotherhood of man. By becoming of self-controlled individual, a 'Muttaqui', a Muslim becomes a member of the community of 'Saliheens', the righteous ones. He concerts with them to the end that the community enjoins what is right upon the rest of the world and no prohibit what is forbidden so that mankind can marched forward on its way to God. Notwithstanding the comprehensive nature of social policy in Islam, the specifically economic aspects practiced by the regime at Madina were:
1. The Qur'an and the Prophet took a positive attitude to economic enterprise. The Qur'an says: " Is is He who hath produced you from the earth and settled you therein to develop it." (Hud verse 610 The Prophet: "There is a reward for anyone who cultivates land who produces and feeds a living being".
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